Time Out
by Higuchimon
Summary: [one-shot, Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch, Tomoshipping, past life, written for Zexal Shark Week] A king and a knight take a little time for themselves, and discover they want much more. [spoilers for Zexal II 108 & 109]


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
**Title:** Time Out  
**Romance:** Nasch x Durbe  
**Word Count:** 2,175||**Status:** One-shot  
**Genre:** Romance||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Note:** This was written for Zexal Shark Week on tumblr.  
**Feedback:** All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
**Summary:** [one-shot, Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch, Tomoshipping, past life, written for Zexal Shark Week] A king and a knight take a little time for themselves, and discover they want much more.

* * *

Knights and kings weren't really supposed to sneak off and find places where they could rest side by side, far from the noise and clatter of the city streets. They weren't supposed to lie together in sun-dappled glades in the forested mountains, one flying horse and one proud stallion grazing nearby.

But Sir Durbe and King Nasch didn't always do what they were supposed to. For the most part they both remained absolutely true to their duties, leading and protecting the people of the United Lands of Poseidon and Durbe's own kingdom. But at least once a month while Durbe visited from his faraway land, they found a few hours to indulge with one another.

Nasch ran his fingers through Durbe's hair. He'd brought along a brush, since one of his favorite pastimes during these brief interludes was to brush out Durbe's fluffy hair. He wasn't doing it just yet, though.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Durbe murmured, his voice drowsy. They'd both remained awake until the small hours settling the latest trade agreement between the two kingdoms. Ever since Nasch took the throne and embarked on his grand scheme to unite the various islands into one strong kingdom, he'd had to reaffirm almost every single treaty and agreement that his own kingdom had signed with others.

"I like your hair." Nasch knew he was just as drowsy. He didn't like sleeping when Durbe was around, though. The knight's visits were so few and far between that he hated missing a single moment of his company. "It's fluffy."

"Fluffy?" Durbe tilted his head just enough so he could look into Nasch's eyes. "What do you mean?"

Nasch considered picking up the brush and going to work a little, and decided not to. Not yet, anyway. "Just what I said. You remind me of a cat sometimes." He ran his fingers up the sides of Durbe's hair. "These even remind me of ears."

Durbe leaned his head back a little more into Nasch's touch. "I'm not fluffy." He sounded almost put out about that.

"Do I need to find a cat to compare you to or would you just take my word for it?"

Durbe's only answer was a mild grumble as he shifted position. Both of them knew that they would doze off sooner or later, despite how much they wanted to stay awake. The warm sun and the comfort each brought the other just by being there made it inevitable. But it didn't have to happen just yet.

Nasch let his hand fall down until it rested near Durbe's wrist. He didn't look; he knew his eyes would only confirm what his fingers told him already. For all that Durbe appeared as fluffy and cute as a kitten, his muscles were hardened steel, ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice. Yet there was still a softness there, one that Nasch knew Durbe showed only to a very few. He still had trouble believing that he was one of those few.

Durbe lifted his hand and caught Nasch's fingers with it, holding them gently while he moved his other hand to catch up the brush from where it lay to one side. He wriggled himself around so that he sat behind Nasch now.

"You've done this for me, let me do it for you." He didn't allow Nasch time to argue the point but began to run the brush through the young king's hair. Nasch opened his mouth to protest, only to close it again a few heartbeats later, relaxing as Durbe set to work in earnest. He breathed a little more deeply, eyes closing, enjoying the warmth of Durbe's body so close to him.

_Is this how it feels when I do this for him?_ If so, no wonder Durbe hadn't ever protested his efforts. They'd only made this little escape a couple of times, and Durbe hadn't yet tried returning the favor for him. The more Nasch felt Durbe working on him, the more he wanted to feel it more often.

Durbe worked carefully, finding a knot at the very back of Nasch's hair and worrying at it until it began to loosen. Nasch dug his fingers a little into the earth beneath them, especially as Durbe's fingers touched the back of his neck. He couldn't remember anyone touching him there, not even his nurses when he was younger and had to put up with them brushing his hair. The moment Durbe touched that spot, though, a warm tingle spread all through him and he fought hard to catch his breath.

"Nasch?" Durbe peered over his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Yes." Nasch was proud of himself. His voice didn't betray a single bit of how unnerved he was at that simple touch. At least he didn't think it did.

Durbe went back to work, fussing and working with the tangle until all of the hair lay smooth on Nasch's back once again. He ran the brush through it a little more, and while Nasch wanted to ask why, the young king couldn't quite form the words at the moment. He wasn't sure if he needed to ask, since he'd done the same thing himself when he'd held the brush.

"I've never seen hair like yours before. It's unique." Durbe said at last. Nasch did his best to gather his thoughts up and sound as if he could think clearly. Even if he couldn't just now.

"Mother and father said it was a gift from the gods, to show ties to the ocean." It still hurt a little to think of them, even after a year's passing, but he fought the pain back. He wondered if it would ever fade.

"I should thank your gods, then, for giving you something so rare." There was a smile in Durbe's words; Nasch heard it clearly. He couldn't remember having blushed since he was a child, but now his cheeks burned ever so faintly.

"Who do I thank for your hair, then?" Nasch did his best to turn the conversation to what he felt suited it better. He drew in a quick breath and reached back to grab the brush, shifting around in his own turn until Durbe was in front of him.

Durbe didn't object, but bent his head so Nasch had a better angle to work with. "My parents." The smile vanished from his voice with that and Nasch didn't like the sound of pain that replaced it. Trying to recover the soothing mood, he started to work the brush through Durbe's hair, trailing the fingers of his left hand through the pale gray strands. He loved the feeling of Durbe's hair, so very soft, despite the spikiness.

He knew there were secrets Durbe had never spoken of concerning his past. The knight hadn't ever told him how he and Mach met or how he became a knight. One day, Nasch hoped, Durbe would trust him enough to tell him those secrets.

And even if he never trusted him that much, or if he kept them for other reasons, Nasch still found an intense pleasure in just sitting here, so close to Durbe, so aware of the other's heat, with silver hair in his hands gleaming in the golden sunlight.

Recalling that intense shiver of pleasure when Durbe touched the back of his neck, Nasch decided to try how it would feel to the young knight. Once he had all of the tangles out of Durbe's hair –which wasn't that hard, really – he carefully ghosted one finger in about the same spot that Durbe had touched him on.

Durbe's reaction was even more intense; his breath shot in harshly and his shoulders raised as he shivered from top to toe. "Nasch…" The way Durbe said the name made Nasch think thoughts that had seldom crossed his mind before.

"Durbe…" He wasn't sure of what else to say. What else could be said? He started to reach for it again, when Durbe's hand shot behind him and closed firmly around his wrist. "Durbe?" This time he made the name a question.

Durbe turned, making certain to keep Nasch's wrist held, though there was no hint of anger in his grip. He just didn't want Nasch to move away. Once the two of them faced one another, Nasch started to say something. Durbe shook his head, hints of uncertainty in his eyes for a few moments, before he leaned forward and brushed his lips across Nasch's.

Nasch's education had been extensive, at least in the realms of history and literature, geography and mathematics, and he'd studied well, especially once Durbe arrived and helped him. But this was an area of skill that he had no experience at all with.

Still, he had a rough idea of what to do, and he leaned back into the kiss. Durbe's lips were every bit as soft as his hair, Nasch decided, and he moved closer to the knight. Durbe reached up to run his fingers through Nasch's hair and Nasch returned the favor, groaning at both sensations, Durbe's hair against his fingers, Durbe's fingers in his own hair…

Neither of them moved very far apart from the other when they finally broke the kiss. Nasch wondered what else they might say or do, a hot ball of tension centering itself in his chest and stomach. He knew _of_ things they could do, but while this place held privacy, they'd been out here a while already. Sooner or later they would have to go back, and he didn't want to be interrupted, be it by people looking for them or by time running out on them.

Durbe rested his other hand on Nasch's chest. Nasch wondered if the knight could feel his heart thudding against his ribs. As hard as it slammed there, Nasch wouldn't have been surprised if he had.

"Tomorrow." Nasch managed the words quickly. "Tomorrow we can have all day together." He would make it so, clearing as much of his schedule as he needed to in order to have it. Merag could handle anything that he needed to, or it could wait one day.

Disappointment flickered across Durbe's face but he dropped his hand. "As you wish."

Before his hand fell all the way, Nasch caught it and brought it closer to him. "_All day_." He wanted Durbe to know that the delay wasn't out of any lack of desire. Indeed, he could think of little else but his desire for the knight in this moment.

Slowly Durbe began to smile and tightened his fingers over Nasch's. "I look forward to it, then."

Nasch did as well. He wanted to get supplies, to get at least one meal put together for them, and to find a place where no one would bother them unless the kingdom itself ended up being invaded. If he'd had any idea, if he'd _thought_, then he could've come up with something so they could do more than just kiss and hold one another today.

Still, there was something to be said for just kissing and holding. He leaned forward enough to kiss Durbe again, loving the warm feel of those lips against his own.

_I could do this forever._ He hoped Durbe felt the same way. From how eagerly the other returned his kisses and inched even closer to him, he thought that he did.

He knew there would be repercussions of some kind. He wasn't obligated to marry, though providing an heir was somewhat expected of either himself or Merag. He could always search the kingdom and find someone he could adopt; his great-great-grandfather had been adopted by the king of the time, or so family legend went. He had a few cousins who might be suitable if that didn't work out. But at the same time, Durbe was a foreign knight.

_I could always claim strengthening ties with his kingdom._ A smile flickered over his lips at that. Durbe didn't miss the expression either.

"Nasch? What's so funny?"

"I was just wondering how we might have to explain this." Nasch admitted. "There will be people who aren't happy about it." He bared his teeth in a savage grin for a heartbeat. "But I can handle them."

Durbe said nothing at first, before he smiled. "I believe you can, Nasch."

A few more kisses were exchanged before Nasch checked the position of the sun and sighed. "It's getting dark." They hadn't specified a time when they would return from their little trip, but he knew if they stayed out much longer, Merag would find them, no matter how well hidden they thought they were. Not to mention that his stomach complained at him fairly loudly, reminding him that dinner would be served soon.

Durbe sighed as well and pushed himself to his feet, holding a hand out to help Nasch to his own. "Tomorrow." A promise and a hope in one single word, and Nasch held the other's hand for a few moments before he nodded.

"Tomorrow."

**The End**


End file.
